I would be surprised if anything comes of it on trade. Continuing the status quo on Ukraine might be achievable with the right ass-kissing, though. Assuming there’s anything left of US resources to go around.
begged two important questions
Nope. It just raised them. That reporter needs to go back to school.
Fuck Politico, Axel Springer and Döpfner. Don’t share, don’t click.
More info please
Döpfner is the CEO and owner of Springer, a media group notorious for pushing a reactionary and neoliberal agenda. There have have been leaks of his private communication showing attempts to prop up the FDP party before elections via his publications. He inherited Springer media group from Ilse Springer. To avoid paying taxes, he invested his liquid funds into stock of the Springer media group before he received the inheritance. Because of the insane German inheritance tax laws, this meant he had to to pay no taxes on a multi billion Euro inheritance. Safe to say, he is a terrible person utilizing his media empire to poison public discourse.
Döpfner and the Axel Springer conglomerate are the German equivalent to Rupert Murdoch and his media conglomerate in English speaking countries.
Be the change you want to see in the world. Give alternative sources, share articles, make the community vibrant with activity and informed discussions about the topic at hand.
The usefulness of this community depends on news being shared, with no activity there’s no reason to visit.
And like it or not, politico covers a lot of European politics and its being reported as factual and center left by bias and fact checking sites, so as a source it’s good enough, even if the owner is an ass.
Dude, the fuck? No, I won’t sit around reading sickening (literally!) news all day so you don’t share links asshats make a profit from!
Criticism cannot be answered by “Make it better yourself”, that’s some kindergarten shit.
center left by bias
Unproven claim. (Ground News and FCMB don’t count, they have scewed perspectives themselves).
No, I won’t sit around reading sickening (literally!) news…
Then… don’t? You have no obligation to read what I post.
Criticism cannot be answered by “Make it better yourself”…
What’s wrong with offering a solution to your perceived problem?
Unproven claim. (Ground News and FCMB don’t count, they have scewed perspectives themselves).
I’ve checked a number of them, they all pretty much agree. Where’s the proof that the bias and fact checks are false?
Then… don’t? You have no obligation to read what I post.
You don’t even get what the issue is here FFS.
What’s wrong with offering a solution to your perceived problem?
You’re not offering a solution, you’re deflecting the criticism.
We had the discussion about Politico’s issues before. I know you know because you commented on the thread. I even linked somewhere else in this very thread. I’m not going to repeat everything.
You don’t even get what the issue is here FFS.
I get it. I just don’t agree with you.
You’re not offering a solution, you’re deflecting the criticism.
Suggesting that you provide alternative sources if you don’t like the ones provided isn’t a solution?
We had the discussion about Politico’s issues before. I know you know because you commented on the thread. I even linked somewhere else in this very thread. I’m not going to repeat everything.
Yeah, you don’t like Axel Springer media. So therefore nobody should be allowed to read Politico because… reasons; even though there’s nothing obviously wrong with Politico according to bias and fact checking sites.
What I don’t understand is your crusade, but I’m sure you have your reasons.
No, apparently you don’t get it. Again.
It’s not about me not wanting to read it. It’s not even about the specific political leaning of the editorial office of Politico.
It’s about who profits and what that person dies with that profit. It’s like Hogwarts Legacy may be a decent game with trans representation, I still call to not buy it because a transphobe profits off that game and uses that profit to advance transbhobia.But that’s true for everything. Or pretty much everything. Can’t buy anything with Visa. Can’t buy most food, can’t drive, etc.
You’d have to live in a hut in the forest and eat moss not too give money to asshats.
And until there’s an alternative, it will continue. Which is why I suggest you provide alternatives.
As a Spaniard (the country he threatened) I have to say that this is really disappointing. Not only Germany continues to accept any violation of Israel’s international law and no longer has the courage to tell the USA what it told it during the Iraq war. Now they don’t even want to plant him towards abuse by threatening a friend. I expected much more from Germany
Words have less and less relevance in this political chaos driven by the US: in a week the Trumpet will sing praise of Spain, then again criticize it. Merz is a hollow man, but it’s a moot point to argue in the White House. Let facts speak (I’m not saying facts will draw a better picture, unfortunately, just look at where money and contracts go and not what farts these lowly men exchange in their high thrones)
You might be right—confronting Trump there might have only made things worse—but the image of Trump attacking Spain while the German Chancellor stays silent in the room is damning. I expected more from a man who, at least on paper, keeps talking about strengthening European unity. Is it only to protect the east from Russia? The rest of us can get lost?
I despise this German government and was let down by the previous one. In a time when Spain shows courage and stands by sane principles on the international field, other EU countries “average out” the blocks diplomacy to a middling damage reduction at all costs (whose actual costs in the long run are to be seen…). As said, what comes out of their mouth is just distraction: facts show what they are really accomplishing (or not).
German politicians will never let an opportunity to disappoint and betray pass unused. They haven’t for decades, and they are very good at it.
It might look disappointing, but only if you don’t know the background of Merz. If you know, it’s just the expected outcome. Before becoming a full-time politician, Merz did “work” as an investment banker for BlackRock in the USA.
You don’t have to with this clown as chancellor.
Please don’t insult clowns by comparing them to this vile man.
I the Iraq war Germany had a center left Chancellor. Now Germany has a center right Chancellor, who was fishing far right voters in his campaign. So it was expectable.
Chancellor Merz speech at the Munich Sicherheitskonferenz however was different from this.
Schröder was anything but center-left. He did transform the SPD from a center left working class party into a center right neoliberal copy of the CDU.
Merkel was also center-right and I can’t imagine her staying silent about this. The problem is not ideological location, it is human decency
I believe he understands that you need to choose your battles wisely. I’m convinced that it takes a lot of effort to keep a straight face when this big baby goes on one of his rants. We all know that cutting trade ties with Spain is all but impossible, given the structure of the EU. By this time next week Mango Mussolini will have forgotten all about this episode. The only way to escalate is to give him more fuel for his fire, for example by directly challenging his lies. Unless you happen to have enough power to do so, like China, that’s not a good option in my opinion.
I’m sick and tired of this 3d chess narrative when it comes to EU leaders. He is not being wise here. He capitulated and betrayed his ally. Then he will go back to Europe and try pretending his some sort of a leader. Try telling people in Spain that it’s ok they have to fight US alone while Merz is silent because Trump will forget soon. What Merz is doing is extremely damaging to the union. Trump may forget about it but Europeans will remember it next time politicians talk about solidarity.
It’s not about 5D Chess at all, in my opinion. We’re unfortunately at a point where decades of inaction and lethargy have left the EU largely dependent on the US for many things, ranging from defense to energy security to digital infrastructure. The hole we dug for ourselves is so deep that confronting the hegemon, the US, is not realistic any time soon. Therefore I believe it’s more about recognising where we have to use our limited ability to resist and where we can get away with nodding along, while knowing that this is bullshit. I believe the threat to Greenland for example was much more concrete and dangerous and rightly led to Europeans using some of their limited ability to resist to put a foot down. This current threat to Spain seems vague and unenforceable, given the structure of the EU. With the realities being as they are it seems unwise to use what little power we have to resist for a pointless threat that will be forgotten in two weeks. The alternative is a head on collision like the one that Zelensky experienced that may not be forgotten.
What the Europeans should have done is to build an independent power base and maintain that, even if it costs effort and money. Unfortunately we didn’t and now we are where we are.
So you are actually saying that this is part of some calculated, long term strategy and not simple ineptitude. And I disagree. Greenland showed that simply standing up to Trump works. Abandoning Spain like that will be very hurtful to EU as a whole. It will give fuel to the anty-EU far-right parties and exacerbate divisions between countries. Sanchez has a very weak position in Spain right now and being abandoned by other leaders like that is definitely not helping. Pretty much everything Merz and other leaders are doing is weakening EU long term for short term gains. Pools are showing most EU citizens disagree with Trump and see US as the enemy now. It’s perfect moment to make a stand a push hard for independence from US but EU is mostly pretending everything is still fine. This is strengthening pro-Trump, Russia backed extremists like Vox and Sfd while weakening the Union as a whole.
You’re right, decades of inaction brought us here and more inaction is not the right strategy now. People like Merz simply can’t do anything else.
No, you seem to be (willingly?) misrepresenting what I’m saying. There is no long term plan. There is no strategy. There simply is a situation in which the actions of Europeans in the past have caught up with Europeans in the present and we are now stuck between a rock we failed to move decades ago and a hard place we built ourselves. What our current crop of “leaders” seems to be doing is (once again) hoping this all blows over in a decade, because we’re all out of other good options. While this is a fatalistic point of view, I believe it is warranted. Building some degree of strategic autonomy will take years, maybe decades. Until then we remain dependent on the hegemon and cannot face it head first on any and every issue. Had we collectively done what le Général had told us to do back in the 1960s, we’d be in a better position, but we didn’t, so we aren’t.
I’m calling “wait and hope it will pass” a strategy. You seem to disagree it’s a “strategy” but you do agree it’s what they are doing and you say it’s warranted.
I’m saying it’s shortsighted and stupid. They do have a choice. When Trump won for the first time 9 (!!!) years ago they should have realized that US is no longer a valid partner. They had 8 years to invest in defense, forge new alliances and protect economy from US influence. Instead they decided wait hoping it will pass. They also have another option now: capitalize on the negative view of US shared by majority of EU citizens and start making though decisions hoping people will understand and accept them. To do this you need to explain what the situation is and what needs to be done. All the far-right parties in EU that celebrated Trump’s second term are vulnerable now. Instead of exploiting this they are still trying to find some middle ground where they can be friendly to USA and promote EU solidarity at the same time. This situation with Spain shows that it doesn’t work. The messaging from EU is the exact opposite of what it should be and I think it’s result of incompetence, not lack of options.
It’s no use talking with Trump, you can talk with him behind closed doors or in front of a camera; he’s a dictator and you can’t win. I would have never gone there; let diplomats on a lower level do the lobbying.
Exactly. I don’t like Merz, but it’s absolutely pointless trying to grandstand against him in public will only make you a target. Trump has the maturity of a toddler so best you can do is nod and smile in public … and then try to talk to the adults in the backroom.
Have you looked at the “adults” in the backroom in the US recently?
Yes, it’s not great. But still worlds better than Trump in public.
Different degrees of full of themselves and stupid on top vs. outright demented megalomaniac moron.
It’s like jumping into a cesspit in order to fish for your favourite turd.
Well, some leaders have successfully pushed back against him. I think Macron corrected him back when he visited shortly after inauguration.
What was the success of that? I haven’t seen any positive result… except perhaps for macrons ratings back home.
In the case I’m thinking of probably just correcting the record and not looking like a bitch that lets the idiot lie while standing idly by.
So ne Wurst.
Politico Europe, under the ownership of Axel Springer SE, is expected to adhere to Axel Springer’s stated editorial principles, which include support for a united Europe, Israel’s right to exist, the transatlantic alliance between the U.S. and Europe, and a free-market economy. Axel Springer’s CEO, Mathias Döpfner, has publicly stated that employees who disagree with these principles “should not work for Axel Springer”
Monstrous, I tell you, monstrous principles!
Just as I thought Europeans had started to have an understanding that just appeasing Trump may not be the thing that will keep working. I guess the Greenland question has been pushed to the side in a way that has made them return to that strategy… but I think issues with Greenland have a pretty good chance of returning unless Trump becomes preoccupied with something else.
There is no amount of brown nosing Merz wouldn’t do to please his employer, the US investment firm BlackRock.
It is becoming evident that Merz is just a puppet.
